Hurricane Milton in the Gulf of Mexico as a category 5 (Credit: NASA)
The impact for Disney World visitors from the UK facing the threat of Hurricane Milton is made worse by not knowing how to handle a hurricane situation. It’s a complete unknown, which can make situations feel more difficult to manage. The key is to focus on the facts being provided by official sources. Here are the facts, as we have them, that will impact your holiday.
Announcements impacting your Disney World holiday
Announcements from Disney World Resort
- If you are staying in a Disney Resort you do not need to evacuate the area because of storm surge. General hurricane advice is to run from water and hide from wind. The main weather threats to Disney World are hurricane strength wind gusts and heavy rain.
- Disney is closing 3 of its hotels from 11am on Wednesday. If you are staying in any of these properties you will already know where Disney is moving you to. This accommodation includes Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground and the Treehouse Villas at Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa. All three are likely to remain closed until Sunday.
- Disney is closing all of it’s theme parks, and Disney Springs for the safety of everyone.
- Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon water park, Winter Summerland Miniature Golf and Fantasia Gardens Miniature Golf will not open Wednesday or Thursday.
- On Wednesday at 1pm Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom will both close.
- At 2pm Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, and Disney Springs will close.
- Free Disney transport is stopping after the 2pm closures.
- It is ‘likely’ that the parks will not reopen on Thursday although Disney say it is possible Disney Springs may open with ‘limited offerings’ in the afternoon.
- Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party that was happening on Thursday night is not going ahead. It is cancelled. All people with a ticket for the event will get a full refund from Disney.
Information about Florida airport and flights
- MCO airport is closing to flights from 2pm on Wednesday and will be closed on Thursday. If you were due to fly in or out during this time frame your flight will not be going ahead. You need to contact your airline provider for the most up to date advice and to rearrange your flights. We understand that for many of you this is upsetting and frustrating, but just take a deep breath and take it step by step. If you are in the UK, you are safe, so our advice would be to focus on that.
- Tampa airport is closing.
- Orlando Sanford International Airport in Sanford is suspending its operations from 8 a.m. Wednesday and will be closed Thursday.
All other airports in the Florida area in the path of Hurricane Milton are also closing. Keep an eye on the airport for further updates.
General hurricane advice
Get supplies for your room. Hurricane advice applies to visitors too and you should be following the guidance to prepare. Buying the following items will help you stay comfortable if you have to stay in place:
- bottles of water / drinks
- snacks
- a torch and some batteries in case the power goes
Charge all of your devices while you can. Phones get weather warnings, and can keep you in contact with people outside your room if you are asked to stay inside during the storm. This is possible, don’t be alarmed, just follow the advice.
Here is a great 2 page resource to help everyone to ‘be prepared for a hurricane’ from the US government.
What should I do?
The best thing that you can do is to follow the advice of the local officials as this will keep you safe. Do not be influenced by social media posts that are not from official channels. You need to follow official guidance and the advice you are given on site where you are staying. Your phone will also be getting advice directly which you need to follow.
Be mindful that although you are on holiday and it is scary, especially as hurricanes don’t happen in the UK, Floridians are facing loosing everything. If you are staying in a Disney World property during Hurricane Milton, they have an excellent reputation for looking after guests during weather events, so try not to panic. If you are off site, speak to the people your are renting from if you have a villa or your accommodation staff, they will have guidance for you. Remember to always be kind.
Updates
Updates that are factual and let you know how the hurricane is progressing and what is changing is best found by following the National Hurricane Centre who monitor and issue updates on hurricanes. You can see the updates on their website here: Hurricane and Tropical Storm Watches, Warnings, Advisories and Outlooks (weather.gov)
The news channels base their weather reports on this information and the views of their on the ground reporters.
To everyone out in Florida be kind to one another and stay safe.
